1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna assembly embedded in a wireless communication terminal, and, more particularly, to a built-in type antenna assembly for a wireless communication terminal, designed to have a constant path of electrical signals and electric waves so as to exhibit uniform performance, and to reduce the number of components so as to reduce manufacturing costs while enhancing assembly efficiency.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, wireless communication terminals are portable communication devices, which can transmit/receive audio, characters and images through wireless communication, such as personal communication service terminals, smart phones, international mobile telecommunication for the 2000s (IMT-2000), wireless local area network (LAN) terminals, and the like.
Such a wireless communication terminal has an antenna, such as a helical antenna or a dipole antenna, both of which are external antennas and formed as protrusions on the communication terminal, serving to enhance transmission and reception sensitivity.
However, although the above external antennas have an advantage of a non-directional radiation characteristic, since these antennas are protruded from the terminal, there are problems in that these antennas are very vulnerable to external force, inconvenient for a user to carry, and difficult to design an aesthetic appearance of the terminal.
In order to solve the problems as mentioned above, as for antennas embedded within the terminal, planar type antennas, such as micro-strip patch antennas, inverted F-type antennas, and the like have been suggested.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a built-in type antenna assembly embedded in a conventional wireless communication terminal. The conventional built-in type antenna assembly 1 comprises: a circuit printed board 10; an antenna body 30 assembled to the board 10 and having a through hole 35 formed through the antenna body 30; a planar antenna member 20 provided on the top surface of the antenna body 30; and a terminal unit 40, which includes upper and lower terminals 41 and 42 for electrically connecting the board 10 and the planar antenna member 20, a spring 43, and a terminal holder 44.
The upper terminal 41 has an upper end contacting the bottom surface of the planar antenna member 20, and the lower terminal 42 has a lower end contacting the top surface of the planar antenna 10. The spring 43 is disposed between the upper and lower terminals 41 and 42 so as to provide resilient force for maintaining contact between the upper terminal 41 and the planar antenna member 20 and contact between the lower terminal 42 and the board 10. The terminal holder 44 fitted into the through hole 35 is constituted by a hollow member such that the spring 43 can be disposed within the through hole 35 together with the upper and lower terminals 41 and 42 while preventing detachment of the upper and lower terminals 41 and 42.
In the conventional built-in type antenna assembly 1 constructed as described above, the electrical signals generated from the circuit of the board 10 must be transmitted to the planar antenna member 20 through the lower terminal 42, the spring 43, and the upper terminal 41.
However, other paths for the electrical signals can be formed such that the electrical signal from the board 10 is transmitted to the planar antenna member 20 through the lower terminal 42, the terminal holder 44, and the upper terminal 41, which is caused by the assembled construction of the terminal unit 40 that the terminal holder 44 contacts the upper and lower terminals 41 and 42.
In this case, if the electrical signals from the board 10 or signals received from the planar antenna member 20 are transmitted through other paths deviated from a predetermined path, the antenna has non-uniform performance varied according to usage environment and assembly method, leading to deteriorated reliability of the wireless communication terminals.
Moreover, the terminal unit 40 comprises a number of components, thereby lowering assembly efficiency on an assembly line while increasing manufacturing costs.